Author: ALR Educational Health Services Inc.

Per Indiana State Department of Health (ISDH), this program permits a residential care facility to employ a trained Personal Care Attendant (“PCA”) to perform defined resident care procedures that do not require the skill or training required for a Certified Nurse Aide (“CNA”).

Scope

The PCA position is a temporary accommodation made by the State of Indiana to address work increases and staffing shortages caused by the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. The position and its attendant training are implementations by the Indiana State Department of Health (“ISDH”) of the purposes and directives of Governor Eric Holcomb’s March 6, 2020 “Declaration of Public Health Emergency for Coronavirus Disease 2019 Outbreak” (the “Executive Order”). The PCA position will be authorized only while the Executive Order remains in effect, plus any additional time afterward the ISDH deems necessary to facilitate providers’ orderly resumption of normal staffing.

Personal Requirements

A candidate for training must be at least eighteen (18) years of age. There are no minimum educational requirements.

A PCA who completes training and is employed by a facility must satisfy the requirements for “other unlicensed employees” set out in IC 16-28-13, “Criminal History of Nurse Aides and Other Unlicensed Employees.”

Training Standards

Completion of all training and documentation requirements for PCA candidates is the ultimate responsibility of the training/hiring facility.

Any licensed comprehensive care facility may train PCA candidates without regard to any current NATCEP training ban.

The PCA training course must be taught by an instructor confirmed by the facility to have

completed all training necessary to be a Nurse Aide Program Instructor for the ISDH Nurse Aide

Program.

Training must consist of five (5) hours of classroom teaching and three (3) hours of supervised simulation in which the PCA candidate exhibits competency in all areas of training.

Upon the completion of classroom instruction, PCA candidates must simulate and demonstrate competency in all required care procedures. Under observation by the instructor, PCA candidates will first simulate procedures while working together in pairs or teams. Next, the instructor (or the instructor with the assistance of a licensed nurse) must observe each candidate’s simulation of required skills and document the candidate’s competency.

Upon completion of the eight (8) hour course, the facility must submit the names of all PCA candidates who complete training and demonstrate required competencies to the ISDH Nurse Aide Registry. When requested by the ISDH, the facility will update the names of all PCAs working in the facility at the time of the request.

The facility must fully notify its certified and licensed staff members that PCAs have a limited scope of permissible work, and detail what duties may not be delegated to PCAs. If the facility learns that any PCA is performing duties outside the limited scope of permissible work, it must immediately intervene, stop the PCA, and reassign those duties to authorized personnel. PCAs shall report to the facility’s Charge Nurse/Manager on Duty.

QMA Insulin Administration Training Course:Per the Indiana State Department of Health’s website, effective 12/31/2019 (ISDH) – Division of Long Term Care is announcing the release of the Qualified Medication Aide (QMA) – Insulin Administration Education Module. This education module is approved to train current and future QMAs in the administration of insulin to residents in Indiana licensed healthcare facilities. The Insulin Administration Education Module must be conducted through an Indiana approved Qualified Medication Aide Training Program by an approved Program Director. The training must follow the approved curriculum.

The Insulin Administration Education Module is an OPTIONAL training for current and future QMAs. The training includes:

4-8 hours of classroom training following the state-approved curriculum

2-4 hours of practical training with 1:1 supervision of a licensed Registered Nurse

Successful completion of skills competency checklist with 100% accuracy administered by the QMA training program approved Program Director

Successful completion of a written competency examination administered by the state-approved testing entity.

The approved QMA training program is responsible for maintaining a student file for each individual.

QMA certifications will expire every 2 years and match your CNA expiration date.*

The $10.00 QMA renewal fee is NO longer required.

The QMA Record of Annual Inservice Training Form does NOT need to be sent to the Indiana State Department of Health (ISDH).

All QMA renewals MUST be done online.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

QMA Annual Inservice Training (6 hours) must be completed every year and kept by the QMA.

The six (6) hours of QMA Inservice must be obtained annually between January and December. (Effective – 2018)

The ISDH will continue to review of QMA Record of Annual Inservice Training. This will be done two ways: 1) a random selection of QMAs will be notified by the ISDH to submit their inservice form for review and 2) surveyors will review QMAs inservice form during annual or other surveys, as necessary.

The facility should maintain a copy of QMA Record of Annual Inservice Training as relates to employment.

If a QMA does not have a CNA, the QMA certification will expire every 2 years. EXAMPLE: Current QMA Expiration Date: 03/31/2018 – New QMA Expiration Date: 03/31/2020.

Disclaimer:
The American Heart Association strongly promotes knowledge and proficiency in Basic Life Support (BLS) and has developed instructional materials for this purpose. Use of these materials in an educational course does not represent course sponsorship by the American Heart Association, and any fees charged for such a course do not represent income to the Association.